Meet our team

We’re here to help you maximize your visibility to federal buyers, find teammates who want to work with you, and respond to contracting opportunities that you can win!

  • Neil McDonnell

    Co-Founder | Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

    Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Neil started his career in Silicon Valley developing his IT and sales skills. He joined the US Army in the early 1990s as an Airborne Ranger and quickly advanced to supporting Fort Lewis’ Garrison Commander, then I Corps’ Commanding General, and finally the Secretary of the Army.

    Between 1998 and 2017, Neil ran two IT-focused small businesses in the federal market. He personally led sales, securing federal contracts with the US Army, WHMO/WHCA, US Air Force, DISA, Executive Office of the President (EOP), Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Health & Human Services (HHS), Veterans Affairs (VA), Education, Transportation (DOT), Interior (DOI), and Treasury. As both prime and sub, Neil has teamed with small and large businesses, including GDIT, Booz Allen, and Microsoft.

    After spending 20 years as a small business government contractor, federal sales expert Neil McDonnell founded the GovCon Chamber in 2018 and co-founded GovCon in a Box in 2024 to empower over 350,000 small business government contractors in the federal marketplace. Neil trains small business owners to find their ‘niche’, identify 'slam dunk’ opportunities, and build strategic relationships that lead to repeatable, predictable results.

    Since 2022, Neil has delivered over 500 live trainings for free, teaching the ‘how’ of federal sales and providing step-by-step, actionable guidance to over 10,000 small businesses. His ‘7 Step Process for Federal Revenue Success’ teaches that “government contracting is not a secret... it’s just a process.”

  • Dariia Hordiiuk PhD

    Co-Founder | Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

    Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) expert Dariia Hordiiuk guarantees that GovCon in a Box members can access government and teaming data in real-time to build high-value federal revenue pipelines and make the best business decisions possible.

    Ukrainian-born, Dariia started her journey by working at EOS Data Analytics (EOSDA), a global provider of satellite analytics solutions, where she worked on segmentation of the satellite imagery, change detection and 3D reconstruction from UAV images. She continued as a ML Engineer and a Chapter Lead at Captify, where she used early LLMs (BERT and RoBERTa) to create user scoring models that optimized user acquisition targeting for higher conversion rates.

    In 2022, she joined Alchemist Accelerator in San Francisco a venture-backed accelerator for start-ups that monetize from enterprises. Since arriving in the US, Dariia has worked closely with Google AI and Stanford researchers and founded several successful businesses, including AiSport, a mobile phone software for athletes integrating intelligence and computer vision technology, and HireGPT, an AI-based recruitment platform merging HR recruitment technology with Data Science (acquired).

    In 2024, Dariia joined Ion-Alexandru Secara to develop Bidlytics, an AI advanced opportunity discovery system and proposal tool for government contractors. AI-enabled Bidlytics was designed to search tens of thousands of opportunities and send tailored government contract opportunities that aligned to a company’s interests, strengths and success potential.

  • Ion-Alexandru Secara

    Co-Founder | Chief Product Officer (CPO)

    Alex Secara is on a mission to help small businesses reduce the time required for a bid/no bid decision by facilitating teaming connections and streamlining bid preparation.

    Originally from Romania, Alex launched his career in Silicon Valley working among leading international software engineers in high-growth startups. During his tenure with Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator program, Alex’s focus was growth engineering, product market fit, team and business models. Y Combinator graduates include: Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe, and Twitch.

    Alex studied computer science at the University St Andrews (UK) and has published numerous research papers in distinguished academic journals, on topics such as Distributed Systems, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence. His early projects include an award-winning AI bot that uses Microsoft Cognitive Services API to auto-generate tennis game commentaries, an Android phone application to scan blood test results and analyze products users consume, and DocGPT, an AI tool that lets users extract essential data and analysis from legal documents and financial reports.

    In 2024, Alex partnered with Dariia Hordiiuk to develop Bidlytics, an AI advanced opportunity discovery system and proposal tool for government contractors. AI-powered Bidlytics was designed to search tens of thousands of opportunities and send tailored government contract opportunities that aligned to a company’s interests, strengths and success potential.

  • Gus Phelps

    Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

    Gus Phelps has partnered with Neil McDonnell since 2021, serving as a dedicated advisor with the BD Accelerator Workshop and the GovCon Chamber.

    With a robust background in social media marketing and scaling businesses in the private sector, Gus has played a pivotal role in developing the acclaimed 7 Step Process for Federal Sales for Small Businesses and spearheaded numerous training initiatives, setting the stage for transformative growth.

    Specializing in business transformation, Gus helps government contractors build effective business development and sales pipelines and employ strategic marketing tools to increase their visibility across the federal market.

    His expertise forging strategic relationships with key buyers and teaming partners enables contractors to articulate their core offerings, identify high-probability opportunities within their niche, and initiate productive conversations with potential buyers to drive revenue growth.

    An alum of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in biological sciences, Gus blends an intuitive approach with rigorous analysis and methods for government contracting.

    Gus is dedicated to continuous innovation, particularly in product development within our software to ensure a frictionless process for our clients that guarantees success. His methodical strategies and commitment to excellence have empowered numerous businesses to achieve repeatable, predictable results in the federal sector.

  • Cecilia McDonnell

    Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

    Cecilia McDonnell has been part of the GovCon Chamber team since 2018 managing social media channels, outreach and content development. Working with her brother Neil, Cecilia’s mission is to assure small businesses learn to maximize the power of GovCon in a Box and implement a ‘habit stacking’ approach to building new relationships and escalating their visibility to government buyers.

    Cecilia earned her BA in Finance at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) and received the SBA Los Angeles District “Best Case Award.” She would later pursue an MBA in marketing at Golden Gate University in San Franciso.

    Launching her career in Washington DC, Cecilia negotiated numerous strategic partnerships for nonprofit organizations and national businesses. Over the years, she was instrumental in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for numerous nonprofit organizations, particularly the American Red Cross Bay Area, United Way and the World Affairs Council of Northern California.

    From fundraiser to grant maker, Cecilia became Executive Director of the Charles Schwab Corporation Foundation in 1996 managing an annual $8 million national charitable contributions budget, developing the brokerage's first international charitable program and helping create the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving. She served on numerous community advisory boards, including as chair of the Northern California Grantmakers Corporate Grant Maker Roundtable.

    Moving on to the arts, Cecilia launched Celtic Crossings Productions, a management agency representing internationally recognized Irish musicians, authors, academics and filmmakers, leading contract negotiations with publishers and international venues in the US and Europe and producing several award-winning CDs and a feature length film documentary.

    Cecilia is a consummate organizer and problem solver. In 2018, she orchestrated a 12-day European concert tour for 100 members of the Montreal Suzuki String Orchestra from Canada. During the height of COVID, she coordinated a municipal political campaign for nine candidates. She continues to serve as an ambassador for the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.